$A fillip for Mastercard

MasterCard Australia is benefiting from a higher Australian dollar as more consumers shop online, a trend which may counter the impact of weak credit growth in the coming year.

The international card provider posted a slight fall in net profit to $26.9 million for the year to December 31, with an increase of 8 per cent in expenses outstripping a 2 per cent lift in revenue to $110.6 million.

The result compares with net profit of $27.1 million for the previous period.

The US headquartered company will shortly release its global financial performance.

Regionally, the card provider is focused on its five-year plan to improve card security and transaction speed through the introduction of the Europay, MasterCard and Visa standard.

It is also aiming to make contactless card payments more ubiquitous and add a cash-out facility to its debit cards.

The changes require an investment by payments system participants, particularly merchants, which are required to have at least one contactless terminal by October 2012.

Merchants must also be able to offer cash back with purchases made using a personal identification number on debit cards by the same date.

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MasterCard’s divisional president
Eddie Grobler
earlier said its five-year plan required all stakeholders, such as banks, merchants, technology companies, regulators and service providers to plan for significant investment.

Credit card growth has stagnated since the financial crisis with cash advances at their lowest level in eight years in February according to Reserve Bank of Australia figures.

Yet credit card account numbers are recovering, lifting by 3.1 per cent over the year to February from annual growth of 1.8 per cent a year earlier.

Debit card transactions recorded a record of 22.7 per cent growth in the same period as consumers showed a preference for using their own funds.